custom. The
form of government was the developed family of the patriarchal type,
and, where union of tribes had taken place, an absolute monarchy
prevailed. War and conquest here, as in all other places where contact
of tribes appeared, led to slavery. The higher classes had a large
number of slaves, probably taken as prisoners of war. This indicates a
degree of social progress in which enemies were preserved for slavery
rather than exterminated in war. Their laws and regulations indicate a
high sense of {194} justice in establishing the relationship of
individuals within the tribe or nation. These people were still in the
later Neolithic Age, but with signs of departure from this degree of
civilization in the larger use of the metals. There were some
indications that bronze might have been used in making ornaments.
Perhaps they should be classified in the later Neolithic Age of the
upper status of barbarism. Recent excavations in Central America,
Yucatan, and more recently in the valley near Mexico City, have brought
to light many new discoveries. Representations of early and later
cultures show a gradual progress in the use of the arts, some of the
oldest of which show a great resemblance to the early Mongolian culture
of Asia.

_The Pueblo Indians of the Southwest_.--In northern Mexico and Arizona
there are remains of ancient buildings which seem to indicate that at
one time a civilization existed here that has long since become
extinct. Long before the arrival of the Spaniards, irrigation was
practised in this dry territory. Indeed, in the Salt River valley of
Arizona, old irrigation ditches were discovered on the lines of which
now flow the waters that irrigate the modern orchards and vineyards.
The discoveries in recent years in the southwest territory indicate
that this ancient civilization had been destroyed by the warlike tribes
that were ever ready to take possession of centres of culture and
possess or destroy the accumulation of wealth of the people who toiled.
If one could fill in the missing links of history with his imagination,
it would be easy to conjecture that the descendants of these people
fled to the mountains, and became the Cliff-Dwellers of the Southwest.
These people built their homes high on the cliffs, in caves or on
projecting prominences. Here they constructed great communal
dwellings, where they could defend themselves against all enemies.
They were obliged to procure their fo